Seven killed in Russian ship blast

Seven people have died and three more have gone missing after a blaze on a ship in the Kaliningrad region. Three people are also injured after the fire which started with an explosion. The vessel, called the Yenisey, had been undergoing repairs in the por

It took firefighters more than eight hours to extinguish the flames. Clear-up work and a search for survivors is still ongoing.

Igor Dygalo, the Navy’s Assistant Commander-in-Chief, said: “A commission headed by Russia’s Navy Commander, Admiral Vladimir Vysotsky, has arrived in Baltiysk. On board the ship, the wreckage is being cleared away and the bodies removed.”

He said that the work is being supervised by the Prosecutor General’s office with the help of the Emergencies Ministry.

Dygalo added that the most likely cause of the fire was a violation of safety rules.

A criminal case has been launched on charges of work safety negligence.